


A Chain Smoker Reincarnated into the World of Naruto

by Ghobo



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:15:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghobo/pseuds/Ghobo
Summary: A Chain Smoker puffing his final breathe gets a second chance at life. The catch? Being reborn into the fictional world of Naruto. With a new path and a newfound power of chakra, how will our short breathed newcomer fare in this new crazy world filled with many dangers?
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1: Babe with the Power

* * *

Pain. So much pain. It almost reminded him of the days filled with severe muscle cramps due to dehydration and lack of salt, but it was sharper and it felt all-encompassing. In a slow haze, the pain soon began to lift, leaving only a numbing cold unlike anything he ever felt before.

‘Well,’ he thought, ‘at least I won’t have to work my ass off in the hot sun anymore, that’s a relief.’

The only thing he could feel left were his fingers and the labored breathing his lungs were pumping out of him. He knew he didn’t have much longer, by pure ingrained habit his numbing fingers found his pack of cigarettes, now nearly flattened, and his lighter. Not having much control in his fingers as well as his swaying arms, he used his teeth to grab what would probably be his last smoke.

The thought itself made him pause, contemplating the finality of what was happening. With a shrug, he lit the slightly crooked cigarette with shaky hands. At least it didn’t hurt anymore.

As the cherry on the end of the cancer stick brightened and the quiet sound of burning paper and tobacco filled the air, the young man took a deep drag. The stars were beautiful, the air had a cool crispness to it that went well with the tobacco on his tongue. Breathing out the smoke seemed to make his vision sway, through his light headed thoughts, he put together that he already had lost too much blood.

‘Damn, can’t even finish one smoke...’ With that last thought the young man’s vision darkened until there was nothing left but the void.

* * *

Or so he thought; instead of an endless empty void of what one might consider to be the after life, what the newly deceased soul felt was warmth that accompanied this new darkness he found himself in. Instead of feeling cold and detached, he felt soothed and quite cozy. He didn’t know what to make of it. Either way, whether this was the after life or not, he could get used to this. Feeling completely relaxed he figured he might as well get comfortable.

After some time, his conclusions on his new situation began to come to fruition. He couldn’t be dead, over the time he has been in this new place he has felt his once small presence begin to grow, and not only in a physical sense. Alongside his growth he felt something new inside him, something he never felt in his life on planet earth. This new sensation was based in his core, he knew that much; as well as the feeling that this _energy_ or whatever it was seemed connected to him, downto his very soul it seemed. Well, he wasn’t too worried right now, it didn’t seem hostile and a new roommate never impeded his rest before; and damn, it seemed he needed said rest, as well as this new energy connected with him. Just thinking and contemplating was wearing him out, hopefully further growth would help; he didn’t want to go quietly into the night after just realizing that he might not be dead after all.

* * *

Awakening again, he could definitely tell some time had passed. When consciousness came to him it was vastly different from when he was conscious before. He was not just a vague presence anymore, his thought processes were now going through a physical medium! Now in full confidence he could believe he was a living thing still; and he wasn’t the only thing that grew, that core energy inside him grew as well. It seemed to circulate throughout what he assumed was a body of some kind.

Hmm... if this energy was apart of him, maybe he could control it. He had nothing better to do anyway, so he extended his will towards it... and it reacted!

This energy was hard to comprehend, it seemed to be a mix of liquid, gas, and solid all at once; but it also seemed incorporeal at the same time, there but not there. This just confused him even more, nonetheless, he had nothing better to do; and playing with it was quite fun as well. Spooky spiritual play doh for the win!

* * *

Whilst in his study/play of the energy inside him, he began to hear something. It had a rhythm and quite the bass to it, he didn’t know how he didn’t hear it before. Maybe it had to do with his focus on the energy? With newfound curiosity, he buckled down and focused with renewed vigor, the energy seemingly answered his call. His before dulled sense of hearing was sharpened, and a realization came to him.

_A heartbeat?_

He knew it wasn’t his own, it was all encompassing, and had such power! Another thought shocked through him, and he needed to make sure. If he could enhance his physical hearing, perhaps he could buff another one of his senses. Eyes were a no go, they still needed much development, as well as his nose and mouth. All he could try left was touch, and with a little trepidation, he spread his energy all across his body. He couldn’t get as much as when he focused on his hearing, as he had spread the energy thin to encompass the entirety of his body. However, he got more than enough to come up with a conclusion.

In time with the heartbeat, he could feel the vibrations with his body. It seemed as though he was floating in some kind of fluid, yet he didn’t need to breathe. What sealed the deal though, was a feeling of an extra appendage that was not his own, connected right where his belly button should have been.

_I’m a fetus?!?_

This must have been some kind of sick joke, he knew someone must have been laughing at his realization of it all.

Oh well, nothing he could anyway, and fretting over it wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He might as well mess with this energy of his for a bit before he got some more rest. It seems that playing around with the energy tires him out mentally as well physically; and his newfound discovery hadn’t helped.

* * *

Overtime, with every increment of growth he found he had more control over the energy inside him. Also he found he could finally control his physical body as well. Every now and then he would twitch a leg and felt quite proud for doing so. When he did kick, he would get a feeling of warmth next to him that brought him further comfort; which he concluded must be his mother’s hand. Sometimes he would hear singing, soft tones of what he recognized as a lullaby of some sort, one that would put him into a sweet respite between bouts of consciousness.

Now that he knew he was an unborn infant, it explained the simplicity of his thought processes as of late. While he still had the memories and awareness of his previous life, he also had an unfamiliar aloofness about him. It was quite weird, but at the same time he didn’t care; a mix of cognitive dissonance and a carefree attitude plagued his mind. He knew he should be worried about what that might entail, but instead he cared more about meeting his new mother. He never had a mother in his previous life, and had grown up self centered and isolated from others. That was going to change this time around; he didn’t know who gave him a new lease on life, but he was grateful to whoever it was.

* * *

It’s time! He could feel it now, his growth had matured to a state to where he could feel not only himself, but in using his energy he could feel all the way up the umbilical chord. It seemed that his mother had the same kind of energy as well, and he had noticed a while back that her energy was feeding his growth all this time. He knew this energy wasn’t something that existed in his previous world, pregnant mothers included, but his curiosity would have to wait.

He was soon to be in a new world!


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2: Power of Voodoo?

* * *

Cold. Holy shit was it cold! With all the screaming coming from his mother he couldn’t help but scream too. For not only was it extremely cold, but a sharp strike on the backside did not help his newly delicate senses.

A man with a voice muffled by a face mask and what could have only been the doctor exclaimed something happily, and in a language not familiar. The newborn still had his eyes closed but could recognize the exhausted voice of his mother speak in the same language. As he felt himself be transferred to a new set of hands, he finally felt a bit more comfortable in the hands of his loving mother as she cooed him in her arms. Rest was needed, hopefully he would be able to open his eyes when he awoke.

* * *

His first dream in this world was not something he expected to have as a newborn baby, it was terrifying. A big red eye looked at him with unbridled rage, the iris was a vertical slit, a monster it had to be. Behind the eye was energy, not like his or that of his mother’s that he felt before. It was physically palpable, it seemed to suffocate him by just being in its presence. Something changed in the eye as it looked upon him, the rage quelled down to confusion, and from confusion to inquiry. Then something seemed to grab its attention as it looked away from him, the rest of it soon became visible as the eye began to pull away. The energy surrounding it soon became visible, bubbling orange and red liquid seemed to make up its skin. It had ears, too long for a dog, maybe a fox? Seeing its jaw made him almost flinch back again, large canines filled its enormous mouth.

Before it left, the eye looked back to the newborn and a deep gravely voice echoed

_“Interesting.”_

* * *

The newborn woke up crying, eyes shooting open to only be blinded. With light burning his eyes he panicked, screaming in hopes the pain and fear would end. A soft voice hushed him as he felt the arms of his mother pull him in close. The warmth began to calm him down, and his eyes started to adjust to their first exposure to light. Looking up, he could only smile, with tears of joy instead of fear now streaming down his face.

His mother was beautiful, her voice soft and calming. At first he was hesitant to feed, it had been a while since he had seen a woman’s breasts and damn were these a nice pair. But he was no longer a man and didn’t really feel anything else but hunger so he gave in. Being hungry definitely threw away inhibitions, that was still the same in this world. As he heard his mother speak to him, he began to recognize the language, of Asian dialect he was sure; and as he picked up a couple of words...

_Japanese?_

He didn’t know the language familiarly of course, but a lifetime of watching anime tended to ingrain a couple of habitual words and phrases. Well damn, he wasn’t looking forward to learning a new language, but it seems he didn’t have a choice. So does that mean he is still on his previous life’s planet? Looking around he noticed an older style of furniture and architecture, but oddly enough, mixed in were technological devices that seemed to be more modern. The way some of the people he saw were dressed also threw him for a loop, it was like he was at some sort of convention where they also happen to deliver newborns. Yeah, he was going to have to see more than this room he and his mother were resting in.

* * *

After a couple of days his mother was free to go home. Carried in some sort of swaddle, the newborn was taken through what looked to be a village that looked like it belonged in an old samurai film. This only caused more confusion, people living so old fashioned like this when modern technology exists? Horse drawn carts, vegetable stands, and more people dressed in those same outfits, ukatas or something? On the outside of the village was a small cottage, hay on the roof, the works. As well as being the newborn’s new home.

Honestly he didn’t mind, he’s lived in almost worst, and that was in a modern day city. He still couldn’t understand most of what his mother said, but with time he was sure he’d learn. Besides messing around with the energy inside him, he didn’t have much else to do. There was one word that was repeated from his mother whenever she seemed to speak to him or passing neighbors. It seems his new name was _Kemuru_. Seemed like a decent enough name, he liked it, and loved his mother for naming him.

* * *

Getting used to being a baby was tough for Kemuru at first, he was just so used to being on his own; plus, being able to wipe his own ass! At times he felt like getting out to go buy some smokes only to try and fall on his face. This pudgy body was a hassle, it gets tired so easily. Funnily enough though, he found himself zooming on all fours throughout the house only after about a month or so. All it took was that same focus on that energy he used while inside the womb and for once Kemuru didn’t feel like a slug; more like slug with limbs, but an improvement nonetheless. What made it worth it however was the surprise on his mother’s face when she found him doing laps around the kitchen. Kemuru was trying to keep it hidden so as to not freak her out, he was only a month and a half old, but to his surprise she was ecstatic. Soon enough, Kemuru’s mother had to leave the house for hours at a time to make some money, babies weren’t cheap and Kemuru knew it. At first she would take him with her, she would run a vegetable stand in the village, selling produce she grew in the back yard; but after a motivated baby tried to help, only to get in the way, she started to leave him at home.

* * *

“I have an important job for you! You need to guard the home front, while Mama goes to work!” Ayako said with a forced smile. She loved her baby, but damn if he didn’t have will of his own, either crawling away or trying to _help_. She noticed early on that there was something special about Kemuru, almost like a natural inclination for intelligence; and that early physicality had to be an early manifestation of chakra. She was proud, but at the same time worried for her child, civilian life was probably not in his future.

“Aww, don’t give me that look.” The pout was evident on young baby’s face. “I guess you won’t get to meet your new friend then.” Stealing a sideways glance, Ayako could see her son’s face do a 180 to a look of excitement and joy. It almost seemed like he could understand her, most babies his age could barely move much less do what her son does on a daily basis. But she’d love him, weird baby or not.

There was a knock on the door and Ayako with renewed fervor almost skipped to open it. Standing on the other side was another woman about Ayako’s age with a kind smile on her face. “Oh, thank you Mizumi.” Ayako gave the woman a tight hug, from what Kemuru could tell, they could have been friends from early childhood. “Of course Ayako, anything for you.” The woman then seemed to grab what seemed to be a fleeing child from behind her. What she pulled back was a writhing young boy holding a swaddle similar to what Kemuru was used to being lugged around in. 

“Mooom, I don’t want to babysit! Ryu’s at the river fishing, I wanna play with him!” However, with just one look from his mother, he didn’t say another word. “I’ll be back here with Auntie Ayako in a couple of hours, I don’t want to see any mess in this house, and if see anything wrong with the babies when I get back,” her eyes sharpened and her voice got deadly quiet, “you’ll get it when we get back home.”

Kemuru did not want to get on that woman’s bad side, that much he knew. Wait, babies? Looking closer at the swaddle he noticed a pair of pudgy hands come out to grab at the boy’s scared face. Gulping, the boy stuttered out, “yes ma’am.” Ayako spun on Mizumi, “you’re going give the poor boy a heart attack!” Turning to the boy she knelt down, “Don’t worry Masa, you’ll do fine. But just a word of advice, he may not look it, but Kemuru has quite the bit of energy. I have mashed food stored in the cupboard under the sink, and cloths to change with on the counter.” Masa seemed to ease at Ayako’s more gentler demeanor. “Thank you Auntie Ayako, I’ll do my best.”

* * *

With that it was just Kemuru sitting across from an _actual_ baby, and a bored looking Masa sitting on a pillow watching them. Awkward... Kemuru didn’t have it in him to play full on baby. So, he figured he might as well practice standing; he wasn’t quite there yet, having already stood a couple of times before, the hard part was walking with a two month old baby body. Standing up, he started to sway and wobble, queuing Masa to get up as well. At first, he had worried look on him, no doubt his mother’s words still fresh in his mind; but as Kemuru stabilized, he recovered, a smirk on his face. “Damn, how old are you again? A month old?” With an indignant look on his face, Kemuru thrust out two fingers without even thinking. _Oh shit_. Before he could think of a way of fooling the child of his intelligence, he started to lose balance before falling on his backside.

“Damn!” Well if wasn’t too late before, it sure was now. “What! Y-you just spoke?!?” And then somehow his eyes got even wider, “Wait, no! You can’t say that! If my mom hears you, I won’t be able to sit down for a week!” Well, Masa sure does have his priorities straight, Kemuru would feel pretty bad if he got Masa in trouble, especially with his mother. Nodding, he put a finger to his lip and gave the boy a wink. With that the boy seemed to calm down, “Oh, thank god. Wait, you can understand me?” Kemuru just gave shrug, he had learned quite a bit from the last two months with his mother, of course there were still words he didn’t understand yet due to lack of context.

Not wanting to have the kid dissect his intelligence too much he thrust up his hands, motioning for assistance back up. “Oh, you want to keep trying? Sure, I got ya little man.” With that, Kemuru kept practicing walking with Masa helping him keep his balance, he was gonna like this kid, a real go with the flow type, much respect. All the while, the other baby, who was about Kemuru’s age watched in what seemed like awe; and after a while also thrust her hands up to the older boy.

Ayako and Mizumi were walking back through the market, both tired from a busy day. “So Mizumi, how has Masa been? He’s gotten bigger I’ve noticed; and Kyoko is just adorable!” Mizumi gave her old friend a smile, and a little bit of advice. “Just letting you know, don’t have any more kids; one was already driving me up the wall. I just hope Kyoko turns out to be a sweet girl when she grows up.” Ayako giggled at her friend’s frustration. “You’re probably right, not like I’d be able to now, with Tetsuo gone.” Her smile faded slightly. “Oh, I’m so sorry Ayako, I didn’t mean to bring up such pain!” She clasped her hands together, bowing slightly. Ayako simply hugged her, “I know you didn’t, it’s okay Mizumi. Right now I need to give all my love and attention to Kemuru, its what Tetsuo would have wanted.” Mizumi sniffled, “And I’ll be there for you all the way, any time you need me girl!” Ayako smiled at that, she had a great friend. Pulling away Ayako smirked, “You have, always have been; and... I think I could actually use some advice right now to be honest.” Mizumi’s eyes widened, “What’s wrong?! Is Kemuru sick?! Is he alright?!?” Laughing, Ayako rested her hand on the anxious Mizumi. “No no, he’s perfectly healthy, a little too healthy but fine nonetheless.” Ayako shifted her eyes away with a concerned look on her face. “But... what concerns me is his intelligence, his eyes show comprehension when I speak to him, like he understands what I’m saying. No matter what, I’ll always love him, but I’m worried for his future.” She turned to Mizumi with a grim serious look in her eye, “And I believe he already has access and some control over his _chakra_.”

To say Mizumi was shocked was an understatement, a two month year old baby using chakra! That would certainly explain his apparent energy, as she’s heard from Ayako numerous times. “Ok, I understand. When Masuhiro returns from the Leaf, I’ll bring him on over, I don’t care how much he’ll whine.” Ayako gave her a sympathetic smile, “Please don’t grind him too hard, I know how hard he works even though he’s retired. I’ll make miso soup, bring the kids too, it’s the least I can do. And, thank you Mizumi.” Mizumi wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about it girl, I’ll bring some sake too, us birthing women got to let loose every once and while am I right?” They laughed as they soon approached Ayako’s home.

* * *

While Kemuru was getting the hang of walking with his pudgy legs, he really wanted to find a way to keep his feet anchored to the floor to keep from shuffling so much. Then he got an idea, maybe he could use the energy inside him to maybe put more weight to his feet or something, it just might work. Stopping his assisted wobbling, Kemuru focused his energy down to his feet. “Hey, what’s up? You get tired or some-“ Kemuru’s feet shot up from the ground at an unexpected speed, splintering the wooden floor beneath him. With Masa still holding onto his arms, he was kept from flying head first into the ceiling and fell on top of the other boy with a tumble. Kemuru felt exhausted as Masa got up instantly, worry all over his face; he checked every inch of Kemuru, checking for injury. “Oh my god! Are you okay! Are you hurt anywhere!” Luckily Masa broke his fall, Kemuru knew he still had a freshly delicate baby body, so he knew that could’ve turned out badly. However, due to maybe his energy, he wasn’t quite sure, it probably helped him out as well.

Rubbing a sore shoulder, Kemuru muttered, “Shit.” While it was still in garbled baby talk, it was still quite understandable. Kemuru found this out when he noticed Masa wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, but instead looking to the doorway with nothing less than full blown fear. Turning, Kemuru could only give a half hearted chuckle when gazing upon the pure anger seeping from Mizumi. The only sound that of Kyoko giggling and clapping was to be heard.

* * *

That poor boy, Kemuru felt pain on his seat just from watching. After the can of whoop ass was displayed in the living room, Masa was tearfully bowing and apologizing repeatedly to Ayako; who in all good graces just smiled and assured the boy that it was okay. Kemuru couldn’t take it anymore, his first friend was hurting and in trouble because of him. So he stood up, getting everyone’s attention in the room, startled looks from both mothers. And with all the balance he could muster, Kemuru bowed as deep as he could and said, “Sorry.”

Shock filled the mothers’ faces, they were absolutely dumbstruck with the intelligence displayed by the two month old infant. Masa had a look of gratefulness on him and went to give the baby a hug. “No, it’s my fault, Kemuru.” He grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “No matter how crazy smart for a baby you are, I shouldn’t have let you get hurt.” Kemuru with a soft smile then turned Mizumi, grabbing Masa’s arm and putting his own thumb to the center of his chest, “Friend.” As much as the woman scared him and as much as he didn’t want to freak out his own mother, he couldn’t stand by and let his friend take the full shit storm.

After brief pause, Mizumi burst into laughter; with a tear to her eye she said, “Ahh, damn Ayako,” she held the same warm look Kemuru recognized his mother usually held, “you got a damn fine kid, as weird as he is, I like him.” Ayako chuckled, “One of a kind.” Turning to Masa, Mizumi beckoned him to her. “Come here Masa, I can’t stay mad at you, you’re a great kid too.” They embraced, “I was just so worried I wasn’t thinking, I’m sorry baby.” It was nice, Kemuru now saw Mizumi as more than a scary demon, she was a loving one.

After a bit of reconciliation, Masa turned to Ayako with renewed enthusiasm, the kid’s eyes practically shined. “Auntie Ayako, if I can, I’d love to come back and babysit anytime. Kemuru is a lot more fun than fishing at the river!” Ayako chuckled, “Of course you can come back, Kyoko and you are always welcome in my home.” Her face took on a little more serious tone, “However,” she then looked back and forth between the boys, “no more use of chakra until your father comes back, Masa. Turning her full attention on Kemuru she picked him up and looked him in the eyes, Kemuru had never seen his mother look so serious before. “I know you understand what I’m saying Kemuru, you may be gifted, but I will not have you put yourself in danger again, do you understand?” Under his mother’s sharp gaze, not unlike that of Mizumi’s, Kemuru could only nod his head as fast as his pudgy neck allowed. Her look softening, she smiled and gave him a warm hug. “Good, I was just so worried, I love you too much for anything to happen to you.”

* * *

After Mizumi left with her children in tow, something finally snapped in Kemuru’s head.

_Chakra?_

Wait, what? Was that in reference to the power that he’s felt and had been using all this time? What was in his mother and in what he assumed, everyone else? Chakra, power in the body, that reaction in his feet, and the technologically backwards feudal-like Japan. No, it couldn’t be, that would be insane! He had to learn more about this world and of the power inside him. His mother mentioned something about Masa’s father, like he knew more about this power. In his contemplation he barely noticed when his mother picked him up as she walked them to bed. “I don’t know what’s going to happen from now on baby, I’ve heard too many horror stories about Shinobi; I just hope you’ll be safe in the future.”

Kemuru’s eyes widened. _Shinobi!?_ Damn, if this world was where he thought it was; he was going to be in for a world of hurt. “Damn it!” Ayako’s eyes widened, “And no more language like that young man! If you think what happened today with Masa was bad, then you’re going to be in for surprise if you keep that up- oh.” In his new found fear for his loving mother, Kemuru barely noticed his newly wet diaper. “I’m sorry baby, but I’ll have you know Mizumi learned everything she knows from me. With a smirk, she continued, “ let’s go change you before bedtime, you must be tired after today.”

She was right, he was exhausted, sleep was needed. He was out before his mother got to the bed. _Damn, I could use a smoke right about now..._


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3: The World of Shinobi

Kemuru’s mother began to watch him with a lot more intent now than before, mostly for his safety; but also with a bit of curiosity. He was thankful for the undying love she still had for him, he was worried he would cause fear, mistrust, or even hatred from the woman. But no, she loved him all the same, he could truly feel it; and brought out his love in kind. Now with the cat out of the bag with his intelligence, he felt he no longer needed to hide it. He wasn’t however, going to reveal knowledge he couldn’t have known from his short time in this new body. Even though she loved him unconditionally, Kemuru didn’t want to plague his mother with the knowledge of his reincarnated status. With what he already knew of the passing of his father, he didn’t want to burden his wonderful mother with further turmoil.

However, he was unworried of his conspicuous endeavor in learning more about this new world and himself. Over the course of the next couple of months, Kemuru began to learn the written word of this world through books Ayako owned. She didn’t own many, with the tightness of funds and all, but it was more than plenty for Kemuru to begin furthering his knowledge of the language. With the added benefit of his mother helping him whenever she wasn’t busy, Kemuru learnt much in terms of understanding and writing this new language. But reading wasn’t the only thing he was practicing, while his mother was adamant in the disuse of chakra, he couldn’t help himself. Of course, he understood the value of caution; if Masa wasn’t there before, he could have really injured himself. So instead of directing chakra to strengthen or enhance his physicality, he instead practiced the circulation and movement of the chakra within himself. Over the course of time since his accident, he had gotten quite the control over it; even with the accelerated growth of chakra growing alongside his body. He was confident he had a handle on it, at least to the point to where he wouldn’t accidentally hurt himself again. After just a short period of time, walking no longer presented an issue for him, much to the delight of his mother. He could now walk with her to her stand and even help with bagging produce for customers, the old ladies loved him. But even so, with the body of an infant, one could only do so much. He could never walk back home by the end of the day, always too tired; but of course, his mother was more than happy to carry him. Pride put aside, he loved the care she gave him.

He wasn’t quite yet ready to assist in harvesting the vegetables with his mother, but she allowed him to play outside as long as he was within sight of her. Masa would come every now and then, bringing along Kyoko. Masa was fun to hang out with, even though he was a couple of years older than him, he always treated Kemuru as an equal. He also cared for his sister, with her enthralledwith the boys every time they came over. She wanted to learn how to walk as well, and never took no for an answer. Whilst a little slow on the uptake, being an actual baby and all, she nevertheless persevered and learned only a month after Kemuru. Masa was overjoyed, “Hah, even though she may not be as smart as you Kemuru, I wouldn’t doubt her stubbornness!” Kemuru was really going to have to step it up, he couldn’t let an infant beat him!

Once his teeth started to come in, speaking became a lot easier. As well as finally being able to eat something that wasn’t mashed rice or potatoes. He began helping his mother with cooking, not much, but enough to sit on the counter to help her with ingredients. It was quite fun, he didn’t know much about Asian cuisine, apart from a cup of noodles. It helped with the development of his hand eye coordination, nothing like he had in his previous life, but it would have to do.

* * *

When outside with Masa and Kyoko, whom his mother finally allowed him to be alone with whilst out of the house; he made them swear to secrecy, as he wanted to practice further use of his chakra. Kyoko couldn’t really speak yet outside of a couple of words, but she could understand pretty well. If it wasn’t for Kemuru’s existence, _she_ would be the prodigal genius. “I don’t know, Kemuru,” Masa looked a little uncomfortable, “your mom is just as scary as mine...”

“Don’t worry.” with the addition of teeth, Kemuru’s speech finally didn’t sound like blubber smacking against itself. “What our mothers don’t know, won’t hurt us.” A devious smile appearing, “Trust me, it’ll be fun!”

“Alright!” Kyoko exclaimed, with a beaming smile, ready for adventure. They huddled behind a nearby tree, obscured from the rest of the village. Kemuru sat down, and picked up a couple of leaves. Masa looked confused, “What are you going to do with a bunch of leaves?” But nevertheless sat down with Kyoko, watching intently. Kemuru took one leaf into the palm of his hand, andafter a couple of seconds it began to twitch unnaturally, as the wind had died down hours ago. “Wow! How’d you do that?!” With a patient smile, Kemuru explained, “Chakra exists within us all, it flows throughout our bodies, and we can control it; giving us various uses. I want to further my control over this power, so with this leaf, I might be able to. It’s pretty hard, but I think we’ll all be able to do it with enough practice.”

Masa stared, dumbfounded; he knew Kemuru was intelligent, but this was _amazing_. He knew his father would be able to do something about this when he came back home, his mother had said it would be soon; he couldn’t wait. “It’s just like what my father has spoken about, chakra and how it could be used; but I never understood it before now. I can’t wait for you to meet him, he’s the coolest ever! You’ll like him, I’m sure of it!”

Intrigued, Kemuru asked, “Masa, what does your father do?” Beaming with pride, Masa proclaimed, “He’s a Shinobi, well retired, but he still helps at the hospital a couple of months out of the year. I’m going to be just like him when I grow up! Believe it!” Kemuru couldn’t help his growing anxiety and excitement, “Where at?”

“Well, the Hidden Leaf of course!” That was it, all he needed to cement his suspicions, right there. _The Hidden Leaf._ A gust of breeze blew away the leaf from his palm.

He looked to Kyoko, she was squinting intently at the leaf in her hands. He then looked to Masa as he grinned curiously at a leaf in his fingers. He knew now what he must do, he didn’t really have a goal in this life other than to live a fully with his friends and mother. But now he knew, in a dangerous world such as this, he had to protect what was his; and do what he could to ensure his newfound happiness. Kemuru wouldn’t let anything happen to his loved ones, not if he had anything to say about it.

* * *

With new motivation, he began bringing his friends to their spot under the tree everyday. Training them to be able to feel their chakra and move it around in their bodies. After only three weeks he began seeing their progress, Masa had quite the handle on it, probably due to the influence of his father in the past. And Kyoko, without any prior knowledge and her only being a month older than Kemuru, began to giggle when she first made her leaf twitch. Kemuru was shocked, he figured her moving her chakra would have taken her a couple of months at least, as it did him; but her infant genius was only further proven when she caught up to her older brother in control of the leaf. He had to give Masa credit though as well, knowing he wasn’t as naturally as gifted as his sister, he began training in other ways. With his advantage of a couple years their senior, Masa was able to covet physical training into his schedule; much to the dismay of Kyoko. But Kemuru was glad Masa was a responsible older brother and kept his sister from potentially hurting herself. She and Kemuru were still under a year old and had soft noggins. No reason to take unnecessary risks as they are now, Kyoko and Masa were already ahead of the curve in terms of chakra control and output. From what he remembered about this world only clan children were trained from an early age and yet not as young as infants or as toddlers. Looking back on it, Kemuru was surprised at the maturity of these kids, maybe besides Kyoko’s stubbornness, but for an infant and toddler they had a lot of self control. Probably in part due to their parents, a mother that doesn’t take shit and a Shinobi father. But maybe it had to do with a world full of this life energy called chakra. From what Kemuru remembered of the show he watched in his former life, chakra had something to do with the planet they were on and something about aliens.

Either way, he was grateful for his companions, his understanding and loving mother, and the reasonably peaceful village they lived in. He knew sooner or later he’d need to go to the hidden leaf village to grow further, but he’d miss his life here for sure. He just hoped he could help his friends get strong enough to protect their village and their mothers.

* * *

After a month since they began training their chakra control, Ayako called to Kemuru, who was reading, to the kitchen. “I’m going to need your help Kemuru, tonight we’re going to have the Den family over for dinner. You’ll be able to meet Masa’s father, and he can help you with...” His mother had a hesitant look in her eyes. “Chakra?” Kemuru said bluntly. Ayako rebounded, “Yes, but only if you listen and do exactly what he says, am I clear?” Kemuru nodded, he agreed with her completely, if Masa’s father was what he assumed to be, a medical Shinobi, then he’d definitely know what he was talking about. With that, they prepared what his mother called miso soup.

Masa’s father was a tall man, or maybe from the perspective of an infant he’d seem like a giant no matter what. Whilst the rest of the Den family was shuffling in, the man caught Kemuru’s stare and smiled at him; as he approached, he introduced himself and crouched down in front of Kemuru. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Kemuru. I’ve heard quite a bit about you from my family.” Kemuru gave a polite bow, “It’s nice to meet you sir.” The man didn’t seem all too surprised to be conversing with an infant not even a year old, he must have been already informed of the unique situation. “My name is Masuhiro, I am aware of your interesting situation and want to help.” He looked to Ayako, “Would it be alright if I check Kemuru’s health and chakra before we eat?” Ayako nodded, “Of course, and again I appreciate you doing this. I know you just got back and must be tired, thank you Masuhiro.” With that, the infant and the man sat on the floor in the middle of the living room. “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt. Just sit as still as you can.” Kemuru obliged, sitting as still as his infant body would let him. Masuhiro’s hands rested on the infants head and stomach, and as soon as they did, Kemuru could feel the gentle sensation of the man’s chakra flowing deep into his core and mind. So as to not sabotage his diagnosis, Kemuru kept his chakra flowing as normal.

It was the first time Kemuru noticed the man had any look of surprise since he arrived, “Wow, I know I expected something crazy, but this is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before!” The women drinking sake in kitchen were staring at them with intent. “Is my son ok? Is he healthy?” Masuhiro turned to her, “Oh yes, your son is in perfect shape, I sense no disease of any kind within him. It’s just that his chakra coils are far beyond the development of any infant or even child years past. It’s amazing, the potential within him is astounding.” He got up and went straight to Ayako, “If I may, I’d like to tutor your child in the use of his chakra. While he may be at a point now of remarkable development, I’d like to keep him on a safe path and keep him from possibly injuring himself.” Ayako’s eyes watered, “Of course,” She gave him a deep hug, “Thank you so much, I was so worried he might have been sick. If you can, I’d be glad if you could guide him safely in his use of chakra.”

With that done, the dinner was wonderful. Kemuru saw his mother and Mizumi start to really get into their sake bottles, singing away like mad women; it made him chuckle. Before they left, Masa spoke up. “Dad, could I also learn alongside Kemuru with you?” His father looked down to him, “Of course, I know you want to be a Shinobi one day. But this will be serious, you must follow my training to a tee.” Masa couldn’t contain his excitement, “Yahoo! I can’t wait! Isn’t this great Kemuru?” Kyoko then waddled up, “Me too! Me too!” Her father frowned, “I don’t know baby, maybe in another couple of years...” Kyoko looked absolutely heartbroken. Kemuru then spoke up, “Masuhiro sensei, Kyoko is very talented; she may not have my intelligence, but she has nearly kept up with me and Masa in the control of her chakra.” Long sentences were still annoyingly hard with the mouth of an infant, but he had to help Kyoko reach her full potential.

The mothers then both stood up, “What! Kemuru, didn’t I tell you to not use chakra until Masuhiro came to help you!” Uh oh. “Masa! What have you been allowing the babies to be doing under your watch?” Poor Masa. However, Masuhiro stepped up, “Ladies, ladies... now before the boys receive any wrath, from what I saw within Kemuru, there were no signs of any recent strenuous use of chakra. Whatever they’ve been doing must have been pretty safe, I can tell Kemuru is a cautious baby; and I trust my son to take care of his little sister.” He then gave the same check to his kids as he did for Kemuru. “Amazing, just amazing!” With the pride of a happy father, he allowed his children to train alongside Kemuru.

“Masuhiro, if anything happens to our little girl, I’ll kick your ass!” Sheepishly promising his wife the safety of their daughter, they then left for the night. Getting ready for bed, Ayako then made her son promise her to be safe and to not do anything reckless in his pursuit of knowledge.

* * *

In the Den household, once the kids were put to sleep, Masuhiro and Mizumi stayed up drinking. “Man honey, you were right about that baby, besides his chakra and appearance, I would of thought he was an adult with how he spoke. It’s quite strange as it is amazing, there isn’t a precedent for this kind of thing. And to think he’s helped our children as well, he’s something special alright.” He sighed, “We need more Shinobi now more then ever, the Leaf’s been in a bad way ever since the attack nine months ago.” The conversation took a serious turn, “I heard, the Nine Tailed Fox, right? It’s scary to think about the idea of it getting loose like that. We’re only a couple of days away from the Leaf village. With the Fourth Hokage’s passing as well, I’m scared Masuhiro. What does that mean for our little village, our children?” Masuhiro took a sip, “We can only hope they’ll grow up strong enough to protect themselves, and each other. Don’t worry honey, I’ll be here for a while, I’ll send a letter to my superiors; such high potential Shinobi are rare outside of the clans, they’ll understand my need to be here.” Mizumi gave a devious smirk, “And what about me? You’ve been gone so long, it’s been quite lonely here you know. I’ll be heading to bed, I assume you’ll be along shortly?” As Mizumi seductively walked to their room, Masuhiro thought to himself that he too missed his wife these passed months; they could use a night of comfort. With a happy blushing smile, he followed his wife for what would the best night they’ve had in months.

* * *

Before Kemuru succumbed to sleep, he knew he’d learn as much as he could from his new teacher. For if the story he knew was to pass, he’d need to be ready for it. His loved ones will _not_ be victims in this crazy world.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4: No Rest for the wicked

* * *

The past 5 years were a blur. Under the tutelage of Masuhiro, Kemuru and his friends finally had someone who knew what they were doing give them proper guidance. For this Kemuru was glad, and once he finally grew out of the pitiful infant body he had so long loathed, he was having a blast.

Morning training would consist of chakra control exercises, now evolved from just puppeteering a single leaf on ones hand. Knowing Kemuru and Kyoko’s potential in chakra control, he had them over time attempting different feats; such as multiple leaves on different parts of the body, to using pebbles and small stones. Kemuru had the advantage in manipulating the stones over Kyoko, much to her dismay. But she got back at him once they were allowed to join Masa in physical training and what they called here taijutsu, or just martial arts. Kyoko would kick Kemuru’s ass almost every time. Tired of getting his ass handed to him by a little girl, and knowing physically he wasn’t on par with her, Kemuru had to get a little creative. While Kemuru in his past life never practiced martial arts, he did know his way around a scrap, and adapted the only way he knew how; he had to play dirty. His first win over her had him kicking dirt in her eyes to win the spar, he knew it was petty to feel happy about beating a child, but god damnit she was like a silverback! He remembered reading somewhere once before that women were naturally weaker than men, bullshit; well at least in a world of chakra it was. Using his new dirty tactics he still lost most of the time against Kyoko, and is still yet to win once against Masa. The boy was a close combat genius, Kemuru could imagine Masa being an MMA champ back in his former life. Whilst not having the pure gorilla strength of his sister, the skill and technique learned from his father did him well. Kyoko only won once against him by unexpectedly head butting him in the gut full force. Crazy little monster.

After training their physical bodies, Masuhiro would then train them in the basics of survival in the woods, he had them learn how to make basic traps for small game; and after a while taught them traps that had a Shinobi twist. As well as teaching them the preparation of the hunted game they’d captured.

Kemuru loved making traps, it made him feel like a clever and sneaky bastard. Over time getting more and more creative, it was one of the main draws he got from hunting, besides the prospect of getting to eat meat. The first time he bit into a leg of rabbit, he felt like he was on cloud nine. His friends on the other hand were much too impatient for traps, opting to instead chase their pray directly; but could never catch as many as Kemuru.

Another aspect that interested Kemuru was that of the gathering of herbs and plants in the area, introduced by their sensei in regards to first aid. There were plants to make salves that helped with cuts and bruises, as well as herbs that could be used to create anti-venoms and helped to flush poisons as well as various toxins from the body. Kemuru never thought of becoming a med student in his last life, and really liked the idea of being able to potentially save another’s life this go around.

Once survival training was over, the kids were free to play and explore the forest to their leisure; when they weren’t helping their mothers with work of course. Sometimes they’d go fishing, go on adventures, or just relax at one another’s home playing cards. The latter unfortunately bringing out the former gambler in Kemuru, but instead of hustling neighbors with dice, he was hustling small children in card games. Who knew cheating could be so much easier with chakra? At first, it was just an excuse to further practice his chakra control, palming cards in his sleeves or shifting them around in the deal. But after a while Kemuru brought up gambling the small allowances the kids had built up helping their mothers. That was a mistake. While Masa took it in good stride, poor naive bastard, Kyoko got reasonably upset when Kemuru cleaned house on a particularly convenient winning streak.

And of course she blabbed straight to his mother when she got home. And of course she was pissed, somehow knowing exactly what Kemuru was doing to the poor kids. Needless to say, they weren’t allowed to play for money anymore, and Kemuru had to sleep on his stomach for a few days after.

* * *

While the years of training and play were fun, there was just one problem that Kemuru couldn’t tell anyone, especially his mother; _he needed a god damn smoke!_ This confused the hell out of Kemuru, how the hell could he still be addicted to nicotine? In another body and world no less? He first started to feel the urges when he was around four years old, and it grated on him; his childlike mind couldn’t handle it. So one day when he was alone, he hit up the one general shop in the villageto see what they had. And low and behold, an assortment of various brands of cigarettes, cigars, and tobacco were lined up neatly behind the counter. His excitement quickly deflated as it had risen, he couldn’t very well buy it; while he did have some change saved up, he knew the clerk wouldn’t have sold it to him. Even if he did, his mother would find out sooner or later, they did live in a small village where everyone knew each other.

Maybe there’d be a way to snatch it without the clerk seeing him, maybe chakra could help him out here? _That’s it!_ Kemuru remembered watching the show in his former life, a technique he thought was cool but never got much light had to do with making chakra into strings. The characters from the Hidden Sand Village used them to control puppet death machines from afar. But how to _do_ it? Unlike most techniques from the show, the strings didn’t require hand signs, they just came out from one’s fingers. 

While making a show of looking at various candies, Kemuru moved a small amount of chakra to one of his fingers. Making his chakra light and malleable, like a feather in the wind, a thin blue string began to ooze out his finger. He found he could control it with minimal effort, guess all that leaf and pebble training was coming into use. Coming up to the counter, Kemuru grabbed the clerks attention, “Hey mister?” Putting on his most innocent face, he pointed to the corner of the shop behind the counter. “Whatare those things hanging by the open window, they make a pretty noise!” When the man turned, Kemuru extended his chakra string to one of the packs of cigarettes and pulled it from behind the man to his hand, pocketing it instantly. “Oh those? Those there are wind chimes young man, they might be a little expensive for you though, can I get you anything else?” Kemuru feigned a pout, “Ok then, can I get a pack of matches? Need some for the timber back back home.”

Going out to the woods, Kemuru excitedly got out his cigarettes and matches. ‘Ninja Smoke: sponsored by the Land of Fire,’ huh, of course the Land of Fire would sponsor tobacco products; it made Kemuru chuckle. Knowing the smoke would stink up his clothes he stripped, didn’t want his mother catching the smell on him. Striking the match aflame, he took his first drag in four years, and got a nice light headed high. He couldn’t help but start coughing, his underdeveloped lungs were burning with the new foreign smoke invading their once clean air. It took him a couple of drags to get his tiny lungs used to it. But damn, he knew it wouldn’t be healthy for his still developing body to be hampered by early smoking.

Wait, wasn’t there chakra techniques used for healing? Medical jutsu, Kemuru remembered that Masuhiro was a Medical Shinobi, he would know how to use such techniques. With that, Kemuru might be able to learn how to detract the negative effects from smoking, heal his lungs or something. With that, Kemuru had a new goal, learn medical jutsu to keep his habit from being unhealthy.

* * *

“Huh, medical jutsu? That doesn’t sound like a bad idea, and with your excellent chakra control, you’d definitely have the aptitude to learn it.” He stretched his arms, “Then it’s settled, after our survival training tomorrow, we’ll all head down to the river for some medical jutsu training.” Kyoko shot up, “Alright! Kemuru, this time I won’t lose! I’ll be the chakra master now!” Masa tilted his head to the side in confusion, “Huh? Why do we need to go down to the river for this training?”

“Oh, and don’t forget to bring fishing rods; we’ll need them.”

When Kemuru and company made their way down to the river the next day, Masuhiro brought with him a couple of scrolls. “These scrolls here have seals within them, seals can be used for a variety of jutsu; but we can save that subject for another time. The main one we’ll be using will aid in the learning of medical jutsu, but first, we need to catch some fish!”

After a couple of fish were caught, they were put aside in a bucket of water for safe keeping. Masuhiro then unrolled four scrolls, “Alright everyone, place a fish on the scroll in front of you, make a small cut on your fish, and follow the movement of my chakra.” Luckily the children were already quite familiar in dealing with flopping fish, so handling them didn’t cause issue. As they watched, Masuhiro’s hands began to glow with a green light; his chakra connecting from his hands to the seal beneath the fish. As they watched in amazement, the small cut on Masuhiro’s fish began to slowly close. “What you want to do is allow your chakra to conjoin with the seal, allowing it to guide you through the healing process.” Kemuru suddenly had the thought of training wheels on a bicycle, “Makes sense sensei, after learning through this method, I assume the scrolls won’t be needed?” Masa and Kyoko gaped at his seemingly easy understanding of this new concept. “That’s correct Kemuru, but it’s not so simple, following a guideline is one thing, but there are many variables that come with healing a living being’s cells, as well as connecting said cells to work together as the body intends for them.” So, just like stem cells then, huh? Kemuru was starting to get the idea of it. As he put his hands above the fish and poured his chakra into the seal, he could feel the seal activate and begin to move his chakra around the fish. It was like when his mother held his hand when he was learning to write various characters and letters. The seal reformed chakra was guiding him through the fish, identifying points of injury; the cut he had made, its need for water through its gills, and other things adverse to its health. He could feel it dying, and he knew why it was. Focusing on the the cells around its cut, the seal helped him recognize what kind of cells were needed and how to connect them. With complete concentration, he slowly kneaded the necessary cells together, closing the wound; he also replenished the lost blood cells throughout its body, while also pumping its heart to circulate blood flow. The fish began to once again flop around with renewed vigor, once again given life from the brink of death. “Phew, that wore me out, I can see why it’s so hard; it took all my concentration just to keep my chakra from blowing the poor thing up, haha...” He looked up to three wide eyes, as only the sound of the river could be heard out of the deafening silence.

“T-that’s... impossible! Medical jutsu is amongst the hardest to control! How did you keep your fish alive on your first try!?” Masuhiro was stumbling over his words; Masa and Kyoko just sighed in unison, “Of course, only you Kemuru...” Kyoko put on a pout, “Kemuru, you stupid big brain! How’d you do that!?” Well shit, another explanation is in order. “Well, besides the aid the seal gave to my chakra, knowing the anatomy of the fish allowed me to see all the things that were killing it. For one thing, it lost a lot of blood; without enough of it, it can’t circulate oxygen throughout its body and to the brain. And with it being out of the water, it couldn’t do that on its own. The seal also allowed me to recognize the cells it needed to regrow and heal with, and messing with certain chemic- I mean, parts in the body, gave it a little spike to keep blood pumping that much better.” Kemuru knew better than to talk about adrenaline or other chemicals in the body, at least for now.

Masuhiro gave him a suspicious eye, “How’d you know about this extensive knowledge of the anatomy?” The kids were completely lost, but a practitioner of the medical arts wouldn’t be easy to fool. “Oh, just some reading... I uh... saw something in a book once about the heart and blood flow, hehe...” real smooth. Luckily Masuhiro seemed to let it go, “Well...” he sighed, “good job either way. Since you seem to have the aptitude, why don’t you help Kyoko before she blows up her fish. And... too late, in her stubborn envy, she thrust herself into trying to heal the fish; with a juicy pop, blood and fish guts went everywhere. With Kyoko now looking like a horror movie killer, Kemuru was just a little hesitant to approach her, let alone teach.

After a while, Kemuru was able to guide Kyoko through the healing process by using layman’s terms. “So what you’re gonna wanna do is make the fish’s blood stronger, allow the seal to move your chakra. Move it like how your mom stitches your clothes together. And don’t put in too much, like with the leaves, it takes a gentle touch.” Kyoko gave him a sideways glare, “I’ll show you gentle when we spar tomorrow.” Kemuru gulped, damn gorilla. She then gave him a small smile that he had rarely seen on her, “Thanks Kemuru, I do appreciate the help though.” Huh? Girls are weird, no matter what world they’re in.

Masa was having more trouble, but again, cool kid that he is, he didn’t even get upset. Instead he offered to make a fire to cook the fish that died. “Can’t waste good food now can we? If I need healing, that’s what you guys will be there for; and in turn I won’t let you guys get a scratch on you, unless we’re sparring of course haha!”

With the practice of medical jutsu, so many new avenues were opened up to Kemuru. He figured if one could alter the cellular structure of the body, creating chemicals that were naturally regulated to then be overproduced; temporary strength could be added on top of chakra enhancement. Altering adrenaline and dopamine levels seemed insane, and improving the influx of oxygen in the body could also be a benefit. From what he also saw from seals, they were like computer programs; made to use chakra in a calculated manner similar to those of basic logical processes. Ones and zeroes, but on a natural scale; if spooky voodoo magic was natural. That’d be another thing to get his hands on when he’d get the chance, but that was for another time.

* * *

After about a month of practice, Kemuru felt like it was time to put his lungs to the test. He could already start to feel shortness of breath from just two months of smoking. He had borrowed a seal from his sensei for practice, and while he didn’t need it anymore for healing other creatures, he felt it prudent to get all the help he could get if he was to practice on himself. Kemuru felt like a mad scientist, using himself as a test subject, but the end goal was to use it on himself anyway, so no harm no foul.

Out in the forest alone, Kemuru opened up the scroll and laid down with his upper back directly over the seal. He began with running a diagnosis on his lungs, already there was a hardening along the inner walls of the lungs, with minor damage spread throughout. As gently as he could, and using the imagery of stem cells, he began to slowly undo the damage smoking had caused him. After fifteen minutes, he took the deepest breath he had ever taken in his life. He felt even better than _before_ he started smoking, like his lung capacity had grown and took in oxygen more efficiently. Testing this new found enhancement, he took a small breath, and held it for as long as possible. With great surprise, he found he could hold his breath for _five whole minutes!_

It seemed that the only way he could enhance a part of the body was for it to be already permanently damaged, and found he couldn’t enhance healthy parts of his body like his muscles or anything else. One thing that worried him was that it could be possible to be poisoned by excess oxygen, he would just have to be careful with how far he pushed his lungs; or perhaps it could be possible to counteract oxygen poisoning by at least experiencing it once and enhancing himself to prevent side affects. But he wasn’t a medical professional in any sense of the word, and he could just get himself killed trying. That advanced stuff would have to wait for later then.

* * *

When Kemuru and Kyoko turned five, and Masa was just about to turn eight, Masuhiro gathered them together one last time. “I’m so proud of you all! Today was the last day of your training with me, tomorrow I will be taking Masa to the Hidden Leaf to enroll in the academy for further Shinobi training. Don’t worry you two, in two years time you will also be of age to enroll.” Kyoko looked up to Masa, who was a head taller now than his sister. “Masa Nii-Chan, you better be good! If I hear you slacked off I’ll come over there and kick your ass!” She looked to Kemuru, who was still a couple of inches shorter than her, “Right Kemuru?” Kemuru sighed, “I’m sure he’ll do great, won’t you Masa?” Laughing, Masa smiled at his two little comrades. “You bet! And you pip squeaks also better keep up in your training, I’ll need strong underlings when I become Hokage!”

As the Medical Shinobi and is son left the village to journey to the Hidden Leaf, the two left behind waved a tearful farewell. Unbeknownst to the Shinobi in training however, many miles away, looking through a small telescope, a yellowed toothy grin formed on an disfigured face.

“Boys, it’s time. The village is now officially Shinobi free.” A group of rough looking bandits laughed and cheered. “Alright boss! This’ll makes things gravy! Either way, that Leaf Shinobi wouldn’t have been a match for a former Mist ninja like your self!” Putting away his telescope, the leader of the bandit group laughed. “Damn right!” His scratched out Hidden Mist headband glistened in the setting sun.

“This village will soon get a taste of the _‘Bloody Mist.’”_


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5: Bloody Mist and Smoky Hatred

* * *

After a days travel with his son, Masuhiro knew something was wrong. A messenger hawk of the Leaf was flying in the direction to their village. He had already sent a message ahead noting of their journey. There’d be no reason to send word to him unless it was urgent. Calling the hawk to him, and opened the message.

_Masuhiro, we have reason to believe a bandit group led by a missing ninja of the Hidden Mist is in the surrounding area of your village. Please postpone your journey and await the arrival of reinforcements._

_-The Third Hokag_ e

Masuhiro’s breath hitched, “Dad, what’s wrong?” His father tried futility to hide his anxiety. “Nothing, son. It’s just that there was something important I left behind for Lord Third back home. Camp out here and wait for me, it’ll be faster if I go alone.” And without leaving an opportunity for protest, he jumped away into the forest with great speed. Left behind, Masa took on a look of determination, “Bullshit.”

* * *

In the early morning, Kemuru woke up to sounds of distant panic and screaming. Shooting up, he hurried to his mothers room, where she was already peeking outside of the window into nothing but thick mist. She turned to him with worry in her eyes, but before she could speak, Kemuru spoke quickly and quietly, “Go out the back into the forest, go east about a kilometer and turn left at the river. There will be cave, knowing Kyoko, she should already be on her way there with Mizumi. Meet with them and stay hidden, others will be on their way to join you soon.” Ayako wanted to say something, but the look in his eyes told her otherwise. Her son had grown and matured, while he was only five years old she knew there was more to her son. The fire of determination in his eyes gave her the confidence that she always had in him. “And you?”

Kemuru couldn’t lie to his mother, “The women and children, I can’t leave them.” He was ready for protest, but instead got a solid hug in return. Barely keeping herself from shaking she whispered, “I know... I know. I’ll be there, and you will return, you hear me?” They shared the short embrace in silence, unwilling to say ‘I love you’ in denial of its implied finality; she then hurried out the back of the house and into the misty forest.

He was confident she would make it, while not a fighter, she had a will like no other, she would be safe. Going back into his room, he armed himself with kunai, ninja wire, and a pack of cigarettes. He would not let these bastards take what was his, he couldn’t.

* * *

Noting the bandits coming from the outskirts south of the village, Kemuru speed along the north western side going to each home he knew; telling every family he could find the directions of the cave, having them keep north, away from the approaching bandits. Luckily the southern side of the village had a smaller population of residents, but he still felt bad he couldn’t save those who were already lost. After he got most of who he deemed possible saving, he heard loud rambunctious laughter from the center of town.

“Hah! Bunch of weaklings, is there anything even worth taking?” Another ugly voice laughed out, “At least we can take the women! They should sell for a pretty penny!”

Pinpointing the laughing group, Kemuru could see strewn across the ground bodies of villagers who futility tried defending their homes. Fathers, mothers, sons... they would pay. But Kemuru knew he couldn’t take them on in a straight fight, he had to play this smart.

Taking to the entrance of a forested path nearby, Kemuru yelled, “You fucking cowards! You’ll all be gutted dick to neck!”

“What was that!? Come on, seems there’s a brat that needs killing!” As five bandits ran blindly into the forested path, the sound of a trip wire could be heard as kunai were launched into the group, killing three instantly. “What the hel-“ Kemuru launched onto one of the survivors backs dragging a kunai across his jugular before he could retaliate. Before the last bandit could react, Kemuru threw the kunai into one of his eye sockets. Just before he could let out a cry of pain, Kemuru jumped from the first bandit over the second, using his chakra strings to form a garrote around the one eyed bandit. As the bandit fell back, hitting the back of his head on the ground, Kemuru palmed the back of the kunai in his eye and pushed down with enough force to penetrate the brain. Once it was quiet again, Kemuru looked down at his hands, blood coating them like gloves. He had never killed another human being before, but now he at least knew what it was like to kill trash. He knew it had to happen at some point, taking another life, but he found solace in the fact that it was scum of the earth that he had to kill. He didn’t feel bad, he thought he would have felt sick, perhaps it was because he was already sickened by the slaughter of the people he grew up around. The kind farmers who offered his mother and him crops to eat when they hit a rough patch, the women who’d give him candy when his mother wasn’t looking. These mother fuckers were going to get it.

* * *

The eighteen remaining bandits pilfering the village could no longer hear the five that split off from them. “Hey boss! Kozu hasn’t come back yet with his guys, think there having fun with a girl they found?” The missing ninja finished off the villager he was torturing, they didn’t have shit worth anything in this dump. Even though they were getting paid by that snake bastard to raid this back water hole, he thought he could at least line his pockets with something of worth. Sure he could traffic whatever piece of ass they’d find, but he could do that anywhere, why be hired to raid a village only a few days travel from the Leaf? There had to be something more.

“How long have they been gone?” He turned to his right hand who flinched at the glare he gave him. “A-about thirty minutes, why?” The missing ninja squinted into the mist, “It doesn’t take that long to fool around with a village girl, especially when they’d have to answer to me for taking so long.” Something ain’t right, get the men together, we’re going into the forest. These hicks probably have something worth hiding, and took it with them into the woods. Let’s go.”

* * *

The last of the villagers trickled into the cave in the last hour since they started arriving, Kyoko looked around at the crying children, mothers hushing their babies, and farmers getting together with Ayako and her mother, discussing the situation. She noticed Ayako’s eyes filled with determination as she told the adults their plan. Kyoko was already finished with fortifying the path to the cave with traps, hoping they wouldn’t be needed; she was never as good at trapping as Kemuru.

...Oh Kemuru, where was he, he should’ve been back by now. There weren’t any more villagers he could possibly save. What was he doing? She stood up and went to the adults, “Mom, Aunty Ayako, I’m going to scout out ahead. The way here is trapped enough to where if you should hear anything, stay quiet. Kemuru has been gone too long, I’m worried.” She could tell her mother was about to protest, “Please mom, I’m the only one who can go out there. I can stay hidden, I just need to meet up with Kemuru and bring him back here.”

Ayako put a hand on her friends shoulder, “I’m sorry Mizumi, but she’s right. Only she can go out there undetected, and if she finds Kemuru, he will definitely protect her.” Mizumi wanted to cry, but held it down. “Okay, but under no circumstance are you to fight; you see anyone meaning to hurt you, you run. Understood?”

“Of course mom, I should be back soon.” But before she could go her mother knelt down and hugged her tight, no longer able to hold back tears. Ayako also knelt down and with watery eyes said, “Thank you, Kyoko.”

* * *

Masuhiro was shaking with rage, by the time he arrived back at his village, the morning mist had faded, to reveal the slaughter of innocent people he had called friends and the razing of their homes. Seeing that his and Ayako’s homes were empty brought him a breath of relief, as well as a crop of anxiety. Where could they be? The thought occurred to him that probably Kemuru and his daughter had taken the surviving villagers into the forest to hide. His suspicions were affirmed when he found the corpses of five bandits, identifying that they were killed with kunai. Looked to have been Kemuru’s work. Probably driven to kill when he saw his fellow villagers slaughtered. Worried that his daughter might’ve been driven the same way made him worry for her safety. Finding the remaining bandits trail, he hurried to save his loved ones, and to get revenge on the bastards who did this.

* * *

The morning mist that had aided in his first ambush was all but gone by midday. Kemuru had to find a way to keep out of sight, as well as keep the bandits from discovering the cave. The bandits went into the forest in a spread out formation, ingroups of three. Taking out one group would notify the others, alerting them to his location. He needed a distraction.

* * *

Further ahead along the river going south, a bandit group came upon what seemed to be a campsite. With no less than six fish gutted upon stakes, with no fire, and nobody around. “What the hell? The fish are ruined, can’t even eat them anymore, and damn do they stink!” One started to back up from the smelly ruined fish. “I’ll go report to the boss, this is pretty suspicious.” But as he turned around, he froze in a cold shock. Standing over 12 feet tall on its hind legs, a large bear stood before them. With a swipe of its massive paw, the head of the closest bandit flew into the river past the other two; blood spewed from head and corpse, staining the water and the bear’s next two victims.

“Are those screams? Hey, didn’t Lobo’s group go that way?” All of a sudden a deep roar could be heard by all of the bandits, including their leader. “God damnit, a fucking bear? What are those morons doing? Gozu, take two squads down that way, and take care of that damn thing will ya?” The missing ninja sat down beneath a wilting tree muttering to himself, “Bunch of useless trash...”

Kemuru noticed that not all of the bandits came to his distraction, nine were missing. Oh well, he could get a beat on them once he dealt with any survivors of the bear. He felt a little bad, using the innocent creature as bait, but peoples’ lives were on the line here; he’d have to use everything he could if wanted to come out on top. The bear was finally taken down with four bandits remaining, once they weren’t taken by surprise, they could be pretty nasty. Using the deaths of their two comrades, they were able to surround the bear and take it out its legs, immobilizing it for execution. It seemed they knew how to work together at least, Kemuru couldn’t take them lightly, even with chakra at his disposal.

Seemed to be a good as time as any to use a technique he had been working on; who ever said self destructive habits didn’t have benefits. Hiding up on a branch, looking down on his opponents, Kemuru lit up a cigarette. The enhancement of his lungs were quite the boon, and after testing different aspects of it, Kemuru figured out one could put chakra into them like any other part of the body. Kemuru dragged deeply on his smoke, burning up to three quarters of his cigarette. After infusing the smoke with his chakra, he blew out a deep breath at the bandits. The smoke covered 10 square meters, completely obscuring the bandits. Coughing and squinting their burning eyes, one yelled out, “What the fuck!?” As he scrambled through the smoke, he tripped. “Ah shi-“ what he tripped over was one of his comrades, who had only a blank stare and a pool of blood under his slit throat. “Fuck! We’re under atta-“ Kemuru from high in the air stomped with two feet as hard as he could on the sprawled bandit’s neck, feeling the spinal cord snap under his feet.

Thinking of what to do next as the smoke dispersed around him, Kemuru heard someone approach. Snapping his head and readying his kunai, Kemuru froze, then a smirk appeared on his face. “You son of a bitch...”

* * *

The missing nin sat calmly as he watched his two subordinates take an onslaught of kunai from a nearby tree line. “Well well, looks like the Leaf ninja forgot something at home. Their must be something worth a lot here after all.” Masuhiro stepped out into the small clearing, “Was this just a simple raid, or was there something you’re after? You’re going to tell me before I take your head and collect your bounty, you missing nin shit.” The missing ninja stood up, stretching his back, “Too bad your tough guy act doesn’t work on me, medical shinobi. I know you’re just a retired back line support fighter, quite cocky approaching me without backup.” He gave a yellow toothy smile, “Since you’re about to die anyway, I might as well try to see what that snake bastard sent me here for.”

* * *

Kyoko saw as two groups of three bandits each begin to get close to the traps that she set up. She wasn’t confident her traps could take them all out, and they were pretty big, taijutsu might not be enough here. But her mother and fellow villagers would be in harms way if she didn’t deal with this threat. When the first trap was sprung, a bandit took a kunai in the eye, screaming his lungs off. As the other two spun to see what happened to their partner, Kyoko used the medical jutsu she learned to put power into her muscles and her blood began to pump faster. She couldn’t heal other living things as well as Kemuru, but she found success in strengthening herself; she knew not to tell anyone else, for they would prevent her from endangering her own body. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Remembering the teachings of her father, Kyoko sprung out behind a bandit with great speed, and rammed her fist into the side of one of his knees. A sickening crack and a guttural yell brought him to her level, and before the last bandit could figure out what was going on, Kyoko kicked with as much force as she could muster into the side of the incapacitated bandit’s neck with a loud snap. The effects of her self strengthening began to wear off, her shoulders sagged as her vision went dizzy. That was the side affect of using her technique, it gave great strength, but caused massive strain. Kyoko could feel herself greatly weaken, she hadn’t practiced using it enough, and the inexperience might cost her... her life. The last bandit turned to face her, with three more from the consecutive party coming to join him. “What?! A brat? You little shit, you killed Bo and Jo! You little wannabe kunoichi, I’ll tear you limb from limb!” Kyoko swayed, but her eyes burned with fire as she glared at her approaching execution squad. “Bring it, pig...” she would never again see her brother, her parents, or Kemuru... she bit her lip, she was probably going to die here.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER, BASTARDS!” With a flying drop kick, Masa flew into the closest bandit’s head, twisting his neck a whole three hundred and sixty degrees. “Masa!” Kyoko’s eyes were wide with disbelief, was this a dream? “Kyoko!” Masa grabbed his sister and jumped back from the remaining three bandits, as a cloud of smoke enveloped the confused attackers. Small stringlike strands of chakra flowed around, peaking through the smoke, and they quickly tightened back out of sight. Kyoko could hear choking and coughing from the hidden men, then silence followed by quiet gurgling.

The smoke cleared to reveal three dead men and a small boy standing over them, with a bloodied kunai in his hand; his face a mix of relief and anger. “Good thing we got here in time. Kyoko, that was dangerous; using a technique like that without proper training almost got you killed.” Kyoko was about to give an angry retort to the stupid big brain, “But good job, this path would have led them to our families, you did well.” Masa helped Kyoko up, “So, how many are left? Our dad should be around here too, so we should be pretty good now right?” Kemuru wiped his kunai on one of the corpse’s shirt, “I wouldn’t be so sure, while there’s only three left, this was too organized for just a simple bandit raid. If we’re unlucky, their leader might be a ex-shinobi, and while I’m sure your dad is plenty strong, we might need to back him up.”

* * *

Masuhiro buckled to one knee, his hand glowing green to heal the slash on his side. Damnit, that sickle and chain, combined for his water jutsu, hardly allowed an opening for Masuhiro to get in. “You may have taken out the rest of my crew, but you’ll find me a tad bit above your pay grade doc.” He made a couple of hand signs, and spears made of water appeared behind him. He swung his sickle in an arc towards Masuhiro, who could only dodge in response. The spears then followed suit, getting yet another graze on the Leaf Shinobi, making a deep gash on the side of his thigh and severing his mobility. As he tumbled, he made hand signs and as he rolled to a knee, he shouted, “Fire Ball Jutsu!” A great ball of flame barreled towards his opponent, who made a jutsu in retaliation, “Water Bullet Jutsu!” The sphere of water extinguished the fire in a gout of steam. “Face it, your elemental affinity and retirement have you on the ropes, Leaf trash. Your death is inevitable, and after I’m finished with you, I’ll pay a visi-“ He was stopped short in his gloating by a barrage of kunai coming from three different directions. The missing ninja was forced to dodge, but was unable to be missed completely; with some minor cuts on his arms and legs, he cursed.

“The fuck!? There shouldn’t be any other Shinobi nearby!” Three small shapes jumped in front of the injured Masuhiro, “God damnit, I knew they had a ninja leading them.” Kemuru lit up a cigarette, “Alright mother fucker, you’re gonna pay for what you’ve done here, get ready.” He really didn’t want to reveal himself in front of a missing ninja, he was outclassed in both strength and experience. But if they didn’t, Masuhiro would have probably been killed. Masuhiro looked shocked and horrified, but was otherwise okay, his wounds wouldn’t need immediate attention, but he was passing out from chakra exhaustion. “What are you three... doing here!? Get... away! You all can’t ...handle him!” Masuhiro then fell over, passed out. Kemuru didn’t need to hear something he already knew, they needed to get out of here; but they couldn’t escape with an incapacitated Masuhiro, and he wouldn’t be allowed to heal him either. So, they were stuck. Looking to his partners, he could see their scared but otherwise determined expressions; he knew they’d fight with him.

Shaking from a nearby bush, Ayako was nearly breathless from fear; fear of her child’s possibly imminent death. The man they were facing was definitely powerful, she had seen him fight Masuhiro. With impatient worry she had gone out to search for her son, and found Masuhiro’s fight instead. While thankful her son was still alive, that might not be the case soon against a man like this. The three children were alone against a monster. The man seemed a little injured now due to the volley of kunai, and his attention were now on the children facing him. She was no Shinobi, but for her son she’d do anything. Gripping harder on the knife in her hands, she let out a shaky breath, and ran out at full speed.

Distracted by the spectacle in front of him, the missing ninja barely felt the knife sink between his ribs from behind. Behind him a scared woman drove a knife with as much force as she could into him, but before it could go deep enough to cause any serious damage. A hand faster than could be seen gripped her arms together and stopped her momentum dead.

Kemuru’s heart skipped a beat, “NOOO!” He flung a kunai as fast as he could at the man who held his mother. But with just as quick a motion, the man whipped out his sickle and deflected the attack. A slow smile creeped upon the missing ninja’s face, _“Someone you know?”_

And with a brief flash of movement, his sickle slashed through his mother’s abdomen. With disregard, he threw the disemboweled woman to the ground in front Kemuru.

_No. No no no no no..._

He quickly fell in front of his mother, hands aglow with green as he pressed them to her bloody abdomen. So much blood. The organs no longer held by flesh poured out with abandon. “No. No. I-I can fix this. Mom... MOOOM!” Tears blurred his vision, there were too many internal organs damaged, they were completely obliterated and beyond repair. “Mom... mom...” His sobs were choking him, he couldn’t see straight; all he could see was the mess of blood and organs that were once his mothers stomach. A hand touched his cheek, and turned his gaze away from the fatal injury.

His mother looked at him the same way as she did when he first opened his eyes in this life, her smile gentle despite the blood dribbling out of it. “Kemuru, my sweet... boy. I’m so... proud. _I... love... you..._ ” Her eyes closed slowly and her breathing stilled, with a peaceful face one could mistake for slumber, Ayako died.

He gripped the lifeless hand still on his cheek, squeezing it to wake her up, futilely trying to keep her from going away. Kyoko hitched a breath, and knelt next to Kemuru, a tear streaming down her cheek. “Aunty...” Masa couldn’t say a word, he just stared at the women who always treated him as her own, dead in front of her child, his brother. But his head shot up when he heard cruel laughter echoing from the demented figure that snuffed out the woman’s life like it was nothing.

“How touching... aw, don’t worry brat. YOU’LL SEE HER SOON!” He launched himself at the mourning boy with such speed that nobody but Masa could see. He had signed his hands and summoned two spears of water. The spears were aimed at his brother and sister.

Kemuru only had time to look up in a daze as two spears of water were only a meter in front of Kyoko and himself. Before he could even react, a figure jumped in front of them, the two spears piercing his small body. Once the spears lost form and splashed to the ground, two holes five inches in diameter were all that could be seen through Masa’s body.

Masa coughed out blood, “Didn’t I tell you both... that I wouldn’t let you... get a... scratch... hehe...” He turned his head back and caught Kemuru’s shocked eyes.

“Take care... of Kyoko... _Brother..._ ”

And as he still stood, shielding his loved ones, the life left Masa’s eyes. He silently fell forward, exhaling his final breath.

Sadness. Emptiness. Loss.

_Rage._

The two children could feel nothing else.

Kemuru grabbed Kyoko’s shoulder as he stared down the missing ninja with burning hatred. He used his chakra to strengthen Kyoko’s muscles as much as he could and did the same to himself. His chakra was running low from all the previous fighting, but he didn’t care any more; this fucking shit scum that stood grinning before him was going to die.

He grabbed an herb from his pocket and chewed it, he then picked up his still lit cigarette and deeply dragged it all the way to the filter, holding his breath which now burned his mouth, throat, and lungs. Kemuru dashed forward leaping straight at the mans throat with kunai in hand, only to be stopped dead by a quick large paw, gripping his own throat with powerful strength, slowly chocking the life out of him. “A brat like you can’t hold a candle to a real Shinobi, the deaths of you and everyone you love are inevitable.” He raised his sickle, but stopped when he noticed the child smirk. “What’s so fun-“ Kemuru blew out all the air in his lungs right into the ninja’s face, but the smoke had a purple hue to it and had the stench of poison.

“AAAAGHH!” Kemuru then launched chakra strings from his extended hand, stitching them into the man’s throat. He felt a heavy fist panically thrust into his chest, releasing him from the choke but also cracking many ribs in the process. Flying back though the air, Kemuru pulled on the chakra strings. The ninja’s face burst through the purple smoke, skin melting and bleeding profusely. “BASTARD!” And moved to throw his sickle, intending to slice through Kemuru midair. But before he could, a roar of a little girl sped towards the man with raging intensity, “RAAAAAAAAGHHH!” Rearing back a fist mid flight, Kyoko put everybit of chakra she could into a bone shattering punch, right into the ninja’s face. From the power of the girls attack, the man was launched back. Right as Kemuru landed, he yanked his chakra strings with all his might. The missing Shinobi’s jugular and larynx were ripped out of his throat, spewing blood onto grass below. His eyes showed confusion and anger as he gurgled up nothing but blood. He fell with a solid thud, pooling blood beneath his dying body. 

Kemuru shambled over and knelt next to Kyoko, who was on all fours with her complete attention on the fallen foe. After what felt like days with only silence, she turned to him, tears welling up in her dirty and grief stricken face. Kemuru could only imagine how he looked to her at this moment. She hugged him tight as she began to sob uncontrollably into his chest, as he too cried into her shoulder.  
  


  
They stayed that way the rest of the afternoon and almost into the night. By that time, Masuhiro had woken up and had mourned for his son and friend. Then, when tears could no longer fall, the children passed out from exhaustion. After they were out, Masuhiro healed the extensive damage done to Kemuru’s fractured ribs. He was a failure as a father and as a Shinobi, and was too weak to protect his own children. When he brought them all to the cave, his wife could only sob one word, “Why... Why...” She weakly hit his chest with each broken question, and then collapsed into uncontrollable sorrow; she hugged and rocked her dead son and best friend’s bodies all through the night.

* * *

The next day, reinforcements from the Leaf arrived. They took care of bandit body disposal as well as cleaning up damaged and destroyed homes. The villagers tended to their own fallen, and many by the end of the day were sore from digging graves. Kemuru laid his mother gently in the hole he had dug for her, it seemed like hours as he just stared at her calm sleeping face. Getting out of this hole was the nail in the proverbial coffin that truly meant that he’d never see her again. He wasn’t even from this world; when he died, would he even see her in the afterlife? There had been too little time, he hadn’t even told her the truth of his existence and would now never get the chance.

Finally, he climbed out and took one last look at his mother. Turning away, he began to shovel dirt to cover her; not once ever looking at her again. He didn’t want to remember her as a dirt covered corpse, but as the woman who showed him the most love he had ever felt between his two lifetimes. The woman who fed him, sang to him, gave a shit about him. But he also knew he wasn’t the only one who lost someone, ten villagers died that day including his mother and Masa. To his left he noticed the Den family burying his brother, Masa. His father laid the boys body smoothly into the small grave, whispering to his son how much he loved him and how sorry he was. Tears falling unregulated, Masuhiro then joined the rest of his family as they held hands in a circle around the newly dug hole and it’s occupant. Their heads bent down in silent prayer, choking farewells between sniffles and tear stained eyes. Kemuru felt he didn’t belong, like he was intruding. He turned to walk away when he heard a soft voice call out, “Kemuru...” He stopped and glanced back to see Kyoko holding her hand out to him. “Where are you going? Pray with us.” Her eyes were puffy with tears but the seriousness of her tone told Kemuru that it wasn’t a request so much as a demand.

Kemuru couldn’t speak, it was all his fault! He could have been stronger, smarter, better! God damnit, he didn’t deserve to be loved by anyone else because he failed those who already had! Kyoko was going to grow up without her older brother, Mizumi and Masuhiro without their son. And damnit he died doing what Kemuru couldn’t, protecting his loved ones... and he wasn’t even eight years old. Shaking his head as his emotions of guilt and failure began to overwhelm him, Kemuru stumbled backwards away from Kyoko. “No. I-I can’t! I failed him! I failed them all!” Kyoko shot forward with great speed toward Kemuru, he deserved to be hit; maybe she could take out all her pain on him. But with surprise, Kemuru felt himself squeezed as Kyoko shot into him with a hugging tackle. On the ground facing up, Kemuru found eyes more sad than angry staring right back at him. She shouted, “You stupid big brain! If it wasn’t for you none of us would even be here! You didn’t fail, damnit! I couldn’t have done anything without you! Why must you take on all this pain alone? Why?!” Her tears fell on Kemuru’s face, he wanted to look away from her gaze but found he couldn’t; her intensity locked his eyes with hers. The rest of the mourning villagers surrounded the pair on the ground, “Yeah, you saved us all!” “That’s right, you showed my family the way to safety!” “I owe you my life!” “We love you Kemuru!”

Kemuru shockingly looked around him at his cheering crowd. Once he had lost the only love he had ever felt, he didn’t think there would be anyone else who’d care. Mizumi knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Ayako was a sister to me, the way I see it, you’re family kid. And my daughter’s here breathing and crying for a new day, we owe that to you as well.” She joined them in the hug. Masuhiro looked up at the overcast sky, ”Kemuru, you put your life on the line for the people of this village and those you love. The fact that you fought at all is cause for praise, don’t take the weight for all the blame on your small shoulders. If anyone is at fault, it’s me and those of the Leaf. _We_ were meant to be this village’s gaurdians, not you. But who was there when the threat came? You. Masa. Kyoko. This village could only have love for you, as long as you don’t push it away, you won’t ever be alone. So, don’t isolate yourself kid, you’re starting to sound like one of us dumb grownups.” He looked down at Kemuru with unwavering eyes, “I know my weakness caused us both to lose something dear to our hearts, but it won’t happen again.” He looked with a grimace to his daughter before locking gazes with Kemuru once more. Kemuru squeezed Kyoko tightly in his hug before closing his eyes.

“Yes, you’re right, it won’t _ever_ happen again...”


End file.
